


Reading ahead

by BridgetMcKennitt



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Competition, Future Fic, Gen, Strategy & Tactics, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-26 16:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19771840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BridgetMcKennitt/pseuds/BridgetMcKennitt
Summary: Isumi may not have wanted to participate in the bet, but he was going to use all of his strength to win it.





	Reading ahead

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flonnebonne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flonnebonne/gifts).



This was all Shindou's fault. Isumi was sure of it. Okay, maybe it was Waya's fault. Either way, it definitely wasn't _his_ fault. There was no way he would have come up with this bet.

Isumi groaned as he stumbled to his feet from his futon. His head was pounding from last night's drinking session, another thing that wasn't his fault. But they were adults and they were celebrating his win of ten thousand yen in a tournament overseas. He arrived last night and Waya and Shindou picked him up to take him out celebrating. It was great, but one drink turned into another, then another, then it became a blur. But Isumi _did_ remember the bet they came up with and he was hating himself for agreeing to it.

The bet was deceptively simple. No talking about or playing Go matches, official matches excluded because they had to work. The winner was whoever could go the longest and all of them were highly competitive. How could they not be to be Go pros? He didn't know what was worse, the headache or the fact that he was barring himself from something he loved.

Isumi poured himself a glass of water and drank it down. His next official match wasn't until a week from now, so that was seven days of agony. His place was filled with books about Go, posters about Go, and different gobans he collected over the years. All of his friends were Go players. What was he going to do to spend his time?

Isumi rubbed his face with his palms. First thing he was going to do was get cleaned up and go find Waya and Shindou. If neither of them remembered the bet, then he was free and clear to continue on with life.

*

They remembered.

At least both of them looked just as bad as Isumi felt as they met up in a ramen shop. Isumi slid to sit next to Waya as Shindou said, "Why did we make that bet?"

"It was Waya's idea," Isumi immediately said.

"It was not!" Waya winced as he rubbed his head. "But I'm not giving up. I want to win."

 _I want to win._ Words all three of them had spoken time and time again on their quest to further themselves in Go. Even if the bet wasn't directly Go related, the call to win flowed through them.

"The only one who is going to win is going to be _me_ ," Shindou said as he rested his head on his arms. "I can busy myself with eating ramen all day."

"Oh yeah? Well, I've been meaning to go to the arcade and play some video games. It's good to keep my skills sharp. You know, for no reason." Waya grinned as he avoided directly mentioning Go.

Isumi wanted to laugh as the game formed in his mind. Of course. Even this was like playing a Go match. Misdirection, feinting, going out on the attack; these were all strategies in Go. He could play this game. Perhaps, he could even win the bet. Isumi took a deep breath as he attempted to figure out his next move. He only had to last as long as it took for Shindou and Waya to lose. But how could he get them to talk about Go?

"I'm famished," Isumi finally said. "I drank too much last night. I think we all did."

He was going to play this slow, lure his friends in, and then attack with full force. That was how he won his final game in the tournament overseas, after all. He was no longer afraid to keep moving forward. Isumi raised his hand to catch the attention of the waiter so he could order a bowl of ramen.

When everyone ordered and, some time later, received their ramen bowls, Isumi knew who he wanted to go after first. Shindou Hikaru. It wouldn't even take much to do it. All he had to do was trick Touya into doing his bidding. Isumi hid his mischievous smile behind his glass of water. It was perfect. Shindou could never ignore his eternal rival for long and he would lose the bet.

As they ate, Isumi noticed the benefit to them eating ramen was that they couldn't talk about Go if they were busy stuffing their faces. That might be why Shindou suggested meeting at the ramen shop in the first place. But that was not going to be enough to overcome Isumi's plan.

*

Isumi had to be cautious with his next moves because he didn't want to reveal his intent with Touya or lose the bet by talking about Go in front of Touya. Whether or not Touya knew about the bet from Shindou didn't matter, he wasn't going to lose because of him. But how could he manipulate Touya into getting Shindou to talk about Go without talking about Go himself?

Isumi took a deep breath as he found Touya at the Go Institute. It was a risk he had to take, but it wasn't like he could naturally run into Touya anywhere else. He didn't have to say much at least. All he had to do was nudge him towards Shindou and let Touya do the rest of the work.

He greeted Touya and asked him how his day was going.

"Ah, very well. How are you doing, Isumi?" Touya asked.

"Very well, thank you." Now to set the bait. "Have you seen Shindou? He was supposed to meet with me today."

Touya shook his head and Isumi caught a note of interest in his expression. Good. "I have not. I was hoping to find him myself."

Isumi sighed. "I hope he didn't find something new to preoccupy his time. He's been distracted since I returned from overseas." As Touya's eyes widened, Isumi bowed at him. "Thank you for your help, Touya. I'll see you soon." He walked away, letting Touya stew in his thoughts. He had no doubt that Touya would take the bait and talk to Shindou about Go, that he should play and talk about Go right now, and Shindou wouldn't be able to help himself and lose the bet.

Now he had to work on Waya. It took some time to figure it out, but the best way to get Waya to lose the bet was to have him lose his cool. But how could he do that when he couldn't use Go as an instigator?

All of a sudden, Isumi's phone rang and he saw Le Ping's name as the caller. He grinned as he answered the call. Le Ping was a perfect catalyst to make Waya lose his cool, and he didn't have to talk about Go at all.

"Le Ping, I have a favor to ask of you," Isumi said. "Can you write down a phone number for me? I want you to call Waya and talk to him."

*

With both of his strategies now in motion, all Isumi had to do was wait until he struck at both Shindou and Waya and won the bet.

His first stop was to Waya's place to see his victory in action. As soon as he arrived, Waya was already in a foul mood. "I know it was you," he said by way of greeting as he let Isumi in. "You're just on your high since winning that Go tournament." Waya sighed. "I lost the bet. It's just you versus Shindou now."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure it's going to be just me before long. I sent Touya towards Shindou. Shindou is going to crack soon, if not already cracked by now." Isumi grinned as Waya handed him a soda. "Shindou could never resist getting pulled into antics when it comes to Touya."

"You are fiendish! Is this how you won? We're going to have to go over your kifu once Shindou officially loses to you. I have a lot of questions to ask."

"Of course." Isumi took a sip of his drink, content in the knowledge that he was going to win. He may not have wanted to participate in the bet, but he used all of his strength to win it.


End file.
